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Lesson time: (2min 56sec)
Guy Chambers breaks down how he built the piano riff for ‘Feel’, written with Robbie Williams - the Moby and Springsteen influences behind it, and how a static bass under moving chords creates the tension.
This lesson is part of the course Song Studies: The Songwriting Secrets of Guy Chambers
Watch a preview of the full course below.
Lesson transcript:
Today we're going to talk about "Feel," which I wrote with Robbie Williams in 2001.
This song came about because we were listening a lot to an album by Moby called Play. We were a bit obsessed with this album, and in particular, a song called Instant Blues. Rob was also pretty obsessed with a song called Philadelphia by Bruce Springsteen. He sort of wanted that kind of mood in a song, and I wanted a piano riff.
I mean, I'm always obsessed with riffs. I think riffs are really important in songs. To give a good example of a riff, "Let Me Entertain You" is a good riff.
That's a riff. I feel. Once I came up with the initial riff, which is this:
You might ask, "How did I come up with that riff?" I don't know. I was probably doing a lot of messing around with different chord sequences, you know, that sort of thing.
I was thinking, "That's a bit boring," criticizing myself, thinking. And then for some reason,
The thing about that riff is that it's the same; it's all white notes for kickoff, and it's the same triad just moving around the keyboard, then back down.
But instead of going like this, which to me is a bit clumsy and clunky, it sounds completely different if the bass is just on the D and the chords move around.
So, the bass is static, but the chords move. This creates tension.
It's completely different if you move the bass notes.
I'll show you again:
And I'm all about tension and releasing songs.
Guy Chambers is one of the UK's most successful living songwriters. He is the writer behind songs we know from the radio, from the movies, and from the dance floor. Songs we know from our parties and our weddings. Songs that half the world can sing along to note for note. Songs that take us back in time to where we used to be. Songs that carry us forward beyond the everyday to where we wish we were; 'Angels'; 'Let Me Entertain You'; 'Strong'; 'No Regrets'; 'Millennium'; 'Rock DJ'; 'Feel' - to name but a few. "Guy was the first person in the business who ever took me seriously" says long-standing writing partner Robbie Williams. "The first person who could see the artist that I knew I could become". The list of other collaborators reads like pop music royalty. Over the years Guy has written and produced for Diana Ross, Tom Jones, Tina Turner (whose scorching take on 'Feel' really has to be heard to be believed), Kylie Minogue, James Blunt, Scissor Sisters, Rufus Wainwright and Mark Ronson, among many others. He is consistently pushing himself, seeking new, creative endeavours, one of which was creating a children's folk opera based on the Oscar Wilde short story 'The Selfish Giant' - which he dedicated to his late mother, Pat. The show premiered at The Vaudeville Theatre in London's West End in 2018. In 2019 Guy released his debut solo piano album, 'Go Gentle Into the Light' - a collection of some of the best-loved songs that he and Robbie Williams have written together, with the single 'The Road To Mandalay' reaching over 6 million streams. He produced the BBC Children in Need official album 'Got it Covered', featuring stars such as Olivia Colman, Jodie Whittaker and Helena Bonham Carter, which reached Number 1 in the UK Charts. Guy and Robbie Williams teamed up with Chris Heath to compose the music and lyrics for the RSC musical adaptation of David Walliams' best-selling book 'The Boy in the Dress', which opened to five-star reviews (The Independent, What's On Stage) at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-Upon-Avon. Guy has produced Robbie Williams' most recent UK Number 1 album 'The Christmas Present' and co-wrote the single 'Time for Change'. He lives with his wife Emma and their four children in Camden and in Sussex, where he enjoys "good wine, good food, cinema and pretty much everything French". "And writing songs, of course". read more
